Has anyone used a rotopol on a PTP hop yet? I am wondering how well they actually work and if they are worth it or if I should ship the radios out to just get connectorized instead.
Thx
You can use the Rot-O-Pol with a reflector dish. Insertion loss however is typically 1 - 2 dB, which is about the same as a connectorized unit (depending on who does it).
Thanks!
We have used the Rot-o-pols (Rotopol) on two PTP100 backhauls (with standard 27RD reflectors) successfully. There was too much growing noise on the (vertical) frequency that we had been using for years, causing intermittency with the connection. Due to competition nearby, we had no more frequency options on 5.7GHz. We slipped the 5.7GHz Rot-o-pol onto the tip of the BH (held in-place with velcro) and the (horizontal) spectrum was clean. It has worked perfectly for over a year now. No channel changing, no tilting or moving the reflector either.
Velcro?
Yup. The Rotopol just slips over the top of the backhaul like a Canopy LENS or Beehive Stinger over an SM. We didn’t like that. We were afraid that in a real heavy wind the Rotopol might fly off (the tower we are on routinely sees 30-60 mph winds). Velcro was a cheap insurance policy to make sure it would stay on. We use velcro on our Beehive Stingers too.
Backhaul top + Rotopol cap
------------ (gap) --------------- Velcro side 1 (cut in two)
++++++++++++++++++++++++ Velcro side 2 (whole)
We just cut one side of the outdoor-rated velcro in half (starting from a 1" wide x 3" long piece), fix one side to the SM and the other to the Rotopol (velcro side 1 above), and then fix the whole piece of the other side of the velcro across the other two pieces (velcro side 2). This way we can still remove the whole piece of velcro (side 2) and substitute the BH or Rotopol if needed. Maybe we’re paranoid, but it works and it’s better than climbing a tower in high winds trying to fit another Rotopol on the backhaul.
Interesting…
Maybe I am having a hard time visualizing or maybe not enough caffinated beverage has been injested yet, but I don’t get it. Do you have a photo?
Yeah, sorry. Hopefully this helps. We use velcro with the Beehive Stingers, Rotopols, etc. If we need to replace a backhaul or SM, or have to replace the Rotopol, Stinger, etc., just peel-off the top velcro piece (Side 2) and separate the units.